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Last month, Chef Gary Wolfe proudly represented the England national culinary team at the European Grand Prix 2025: Global Chefs Challenge in Rimini, Italy, bringing home a silver medal!
Alongside this impressive achievement, his dedication and talent have earned him a promotion to Executive Chef at Restaurant Associates, where he now oversees all culinary operations across the UK.
We had the chance to catch up with him outside the kitchen for a quick dive into his preparation process and the key skills required to tackle such a prestigious culinary competition.
The first question on everyone’s mind is: What inspired you to apply for the Global Chefs Challenge in the first place?
To really test myself against some of the world’s best chefs. It was also about the pride of representing your country on an international stage and pushing myself to new limits and to inspire my team and colleagues.
Preparation is obviously key! How do you prepare for this level of competition?
There is really two different types of preparation: mental and cooking.
In the lead up I had been refining elements and doing run throughs in my spare time whilst being mentored by Culinary Director, Adam Thomason. I had also taken inspiration from the culinary Olympics the year before, constantly trying to evolve the dishes and make it the best I could in the short space of time I had.
The mental side of competing on such a level is incredibly demanding. You have the logistics, travel, challenges of sourcing ingredients in a foreign country and of course the pressure of judges watching your every move.
Everything you have worked on for the last 3 months comes down to just 2 hours on competition day! You have to be mentally organised and have the ability to adapt to things that may not go to plan – it’s vital to try and build a strong winning mindset to deal with that level of pressure.
What went down on the day in terms of format of the event and how were you feeling?
I was tasked with preparing a fish starter for four guests using halibut, as well as a main course featuring veal sirloin and liver, all within a strict 2-hour timeframe under World Chefs' mise en place regulations.
The full menu included:
Seaweed poached halibut stuffed with a scallop mousse, tartlet of razor clam with blood orange and dashi, verjus compressed cucumber and a sauce of buttermilk, vermouth clam reduction split with dill oil.
Brown butter roasted veal sirloin, a farce of calf’s liver, black pudding and smoked bacon. salt baked celeriac, wild garlic crushed peas, chardonnay and miso glazed sand carrot, madeira veal jus.
We had a time slot of only 10 minutes to bring our equipment and mise en place into the live kitchen area. There was then 5 minutes of judges checks and tasting of stocks and purees. Each team started 5 minutes apart with strict timings on service.
I was trying to run through the prep list I had so I could be as efficient as possible on the day but once you start, actually auto pilot kicks in and you do what you’ve trained and practiced doing. A range of emotions do play a part leading up to it – nervous excitement, eagerness and a new focus. It’s a real mixed bag!
What one thing did you take away from the competition?
The scoring system was incredibly complex. It is not only about the 2 dishes you make on the day, but also how organised you are, your cleanliness, the way you work, professional working methods, HACCP controls and how you display innovation and modern techniques.
The judges assess every aspect, recognising that you are representing the culinary industry—it’s more than just a cooking competition. To achieve the highest score possible, you must commit fully, with dedication, focus, and sacrifice.
Winning silver is a huge achievement – how did you feel on the day?
Although a little disappointed to not get a gold medal, I achieved a very good and very respectable score (85 points out of 100), competing at the highest level. I was very proud to put myself onto one of the biggest and most intense culinary stages in the world.